BI And BP2MI Cooperate To Improve Financial Literacy Of Migrant Workers

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) have collaborated to increase financial literacy and economic empowerment of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI).

This collaboration was confirmed through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation and Coordination in the Context of Economic and Financial Empowerment as well as Indonesian Migrant Workers Statistics, carried out by BI Deputy Governor Juda Agung and BP2MI Head Benny Rhamdani. "We see these two things that we need to improve in our synergy with BP2MI, namely financial literacy and community empowerment," said Juda at the signing of the memorandum of understanding at the BI Jakarta Headquarters, quoted from Antara, Friday 31 May. Cooperation between the two institutions emphasizes two important things, namely literacy of financial services and payment systems, as well as economic empowerment from PMI. "We will carry out literacy of understanding of payment systems and financial systems as a whole to migrant workers both before they depart and when they are there. So this is part of the protection of BI consumers in particular in payment systems," he said. In addition, the cooperation of the two institutions will also encourage economic empowerment from PMI so that when they return to the country, they can take advantage of their income to perform economic activities that can improve their standard. through such cooperation, migrant workers before leaving for the destination country of work, will be given literacy about finances both in the context of managing money and in the context of using financial services such as bank transfers. Then, when in the PMI destination state of work, PMI needs to be given an understanding of the remittance or transfer of safe, cheap and reliable funds in accordance with Bank Indonesia's goal of creating a fast, cheap, secure, and reliable payment system. "We will carry out literacy improvements regarding this payment system including for fund transfer and also consumer protection. They are financial service users so that this needs protection from Bank Indonesia as an authority in the field of payment systems," he said.

Juda menuturkan literasi keuangan juga berguna untuk mencegah para PMI terjebak dalam penipuan dan investasi bodong.Kantor-kantor perwakilan BI di seluruh daerah di Indonesia dapat melakukan pembinaan ekonomi kepada para PMI sehingga setelah PMI kembali ke Tanah Air, mereka dapat mengembangkan usaha ekonomi di berbagai sektor seperti sektor pertanian, pangan, fesyen, kerajinan dan makanan."Jadi ini adalah tiga hal yang ingin dan perlu kita dorong yaitu sebelum pekerja migran Indonesia ini berangkat, kemudian ketika di sana, dan juga setelah pulang, ini perlu kita lakukan kerja sama yang baik antara BP2MI dan Bank Indonesia," tuturnya.